The Waxen Image by Rudy S. Apodaca (review)

THE WAXEN IMAGE BY RUDY S. APODACA (Mesilla, New Mexico: Tital Publishing Company, 1977. Hardbound. 304 pages.) The Waxen Image is a suspenseful novel in which Apodaca combines fantasy with reality. From the scintilating black magic culture in Western Africa, the reader is taken, in time and space, to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. There the "fountain of youth" awaits Andrew Borlin, an old and eccentric American scientist who invents a seemingly far-fetched drug in the fictitious town of Esperanza (witchcraft is endemic here too) north of Albuquerque that transforms him into a robust young man. Professor Conrad—Andrew Borlin rejuvenated—spearheads a pervasive drug cult at the University of New Mexico. Their retreat and drug orgies in Esperanza, coupled with the social and cultural deprivation of the hippie colonies in Taos, accentuate life-styles intermingled with social dilemmas that are true to life in real and imagined geographical settings. An eerie and pyrotechnic atmosphere which eventually explodes, permeates Esperanza, causing people's death and/ or their ominous disappearance, incredible enough at times to enthrall if not baffle the reader. Apodaca weaves and inter-weaves a labryinth of events with some finesse as they evolve simultaneously on three different levels: the mysterious murder of Carol Lockwood, her daughter's flight from home, and the inscrutable death and vanishment of Carol Lockwood's father, who is none other than Andrew Borlin. Her ex-husband, the ubiquitous Ross Blair, albeit a rather unobtrusive personage at first, heeds her call to help search for their missing daughter, but he succumbs to the tantalizing incidents in Esperanza (ironically a symbol of hope for him) as she and her family, in absentia, command his as well as the reader's attention. Secondary characters, and those peripheral to the action, simply uphold the similitude of events and coincidences until the fateful day in Mexico when the three levels converge and the drama of death and missing persons is resolved. The novel, narrated in the third person, with flashbacks that reflect on the background of characters or situations germane to plot development, is not without shortcomings. Although in a work offiction an author has the license to improvise, for one familiar with Albuquerque, it is somewhat disconcerting to have inaccurate street directions given. Moreover, most characters lack growth and seem in some measure unreal. Their dialogues by and large are patterned and homogeneous—using similarjargon, regardless of their social or educational backgrounds. This culminates in their speech being more pedantic than genuine, more stilted than informal. The reader may find this 246VOL. 32, NO. 4, 1978 contrast bothersome. One exception is Professor Conrad whose pompous rhetoric is authentic and in keeping with his personality and social and professional status. In the main, the average reader will find The Waxen Image to be an interesting novel, even though the serious student of literature is likely to reach additional conclusions. Nevertheless, Apodaca must be commended for having written, as he proclaims—and to my knowledge that is correct— the first mystery novel by a Chicano. NASARIO GARCIA* •Nasario Garcia, a native New Mexican, teaches Spanish at the University of Southern Colorado. He has published articles on Chicano literature and language in Hispania, The Bilingual Review, De Colores, etc., having received his Ph.D. in XIX century Spanish literature from the University of Pittsburgh. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW247 ...